News & Analysis
After 21 Years, AIJC Signs Off from South Africa in Style. Next Stop: Kenya
More than 455 attendees representing 45 countries, 37 of them in Africa, attended Africa’s premier investigative journalism conference at Wits University.
Stories
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Getting Started in Investigative Journalism
Mentoring Under Pressure: How One Nigerian Woman Is Shaping the Next Generation of Investigative Reporters
Through her two-plus decades of mentoring young journalists, Joke Kujenya has left a legacy of fostering and strengthening investigative reporting in a difficult press climate.
Data Journalism
Rewriting the Rules of Digital Verification: How African Investigative Journalists Are Building New Data Models
The global nonprofit WITNESS seeks to address one of the biggest data gaps in the digital verification landscape: the dependence on tools-based methods that lack local knowledge.
News & Analysis
Why Two Kenyan Journalists Launched a Startup to Change Global Health Storytelling
Verah Okeyo and Anne Mawathe were frustrated with newsroom constraints and envisioned producing deeply reported stories that communities and policymakers could not ignore.
10 Questions
You Can Try Your Best and Fail, But Still You Learn: Insights from Africa’s Investigative Journalist of the Year
Blanshe Musinguzi’s award-winning investigation focused on timber smuggling in East Africa. He talks with GIJN about his career so far, and what he’s learned along the way.
News & Analysis
Inside the Cross-Border Network Exposing the Environmental Crisis Facing Africa’s Longest River
Co-founded by two journalists, InfoNile has grown into a sprawling ecosystem of cross-border investigations, multimedia storytelling, and data-driven reporting.
Member Profiles
Fighting for Accountability and Press Freedom in West Africa
For almost 30 years, the Media Foundation for West Africa has supported watchdog journalism and press freedom in both democratic and authoritarian states across the region.
How They Did It
Exposing Extremism Networks in Sub-Saharan Africa Using Open Source Tools
As extremism spreads across sub-Saharan Africa, journalists are turning to open source tools to track the networks and physical movement of these often violent groups.
Gender How They Did It
Using Data to Expose Systemic Gender-Based Violence — in 10 Steps
Reporters at the Center for Collaborative Investigative Journalism explain how they used data to reveal systemic gender-based violence in Eswatini in southern Africa.
Getting the Story Out How They Did It
Pollution, Corruption, and Illegal Gold Mining: Investigating Nigeria’s Water Crisis
Investigative journalist and filmmaker Anu Adelakun discusses her investigation into the forces behind water scarcity and pollution in Africa’s most populous democracy.
10 Questions
From Poet to Reporter, Covering the Human Angle of Conflict in Nigeria
The managing editor of HumAngle, which covers the human costs of conflict and terrorism, discusses the challenges of investigative coverage in Nigeria.
Editor's Picks News & Analysis
Fake Fertilizer, Dirty Money, and a Kidnapping Epidemic: 2024’s Best Investigative Stories from Sub-Saharan Africa
Also featuring revelations about misuse of college scholarships in Ghana, a televangelist’s troubling empire in Nigeria, and a dive into a US charity’s spending in Malawi.
Africa Focus Methodology
Tips from African Journalists on Cross-Border Investigations
African journalists who have worked on impactful cross-border investigations share lessons on uncovering illegal fishing, timber trafficking, and illicit money flows.
Africa Focus Data Journalism
How Data Journalism Is Changing the Face of Africa
Data journalism in Africa has made a powerful impact, from holding leaders accountable to refuting myths around domestic violence. But the field faces formidable challenges.
News & Analysis Reporting Tools & Tips
How Journalism Groups in Africa Are Building AI Tools to Aid Investigations and Fact-Checking
These organizations are developing AI tools and resources that can be used to tackle misinformation, improve data reporting, and help with the storytelling process.
Reporting Tools & Tips
Q & A: Lessons Learned from Investigating the Wagner Group in Africa
Nigerian investigative journalist Philip Obaji Jr. discusses the threats and challenges he has faced covering the Russian mercenary outfit, the Wagner Group.
News & Analysis Press Freedom
The Perils Facing Investigative Journalism in Ethiopia: Media Capture, Deep Polarization, and Government Oppression
Investigative journalism in Ethiopia — Africa’s second most populous country — currently faces a series of severe challenges.
Member Profiles
Fighting State Capture Through Collaboration: How amaBhungane Has Redefined Investigative Journalism in Southern Africa
As well as playing an outsize role in exposing state capture and toppling South Africa’s former president, this newsroom is a champion for investigative journalism in the region.
Methodology Reporting Tools & Tips
Going Undercover in Africa: Tips from Recent Investigations
Investigative journalists who have gone undercover in Nigeria, Ghana, Liberia, Cameroon, and Kenya share advice and practical tips.
Member Profiles Press Freedom
CENOZO, the Organization Shoring Up Watchdog Reporting in West Africa
GIJN member The Norbert Zongo Cell for Investigative Journalism in West Africa (CENOZO) strives to promote journalism in the public interest.
Case Studies How They Did It
How One Nigerian Journalist on a Motorcycle Exposed Armed Warlords
Yusuf Anka spent three years riding into and out of dangerous territory in northwestern Nigeria, investigating armed gangs plaguing his home region.
News & Analysis
Doc of the Day: 2023 Global Organized Crime Index
This week, GITOC released its second worldwide assessment, the 2023 Global Organized Crime Index, a eight-chapter report that found economic crises and political realignment have fueled global organized crime, which preys on the resulting civic instability, financial vulnerability, and shortage of food, fuel, and other commodities.
Awards, Grants, & Fellowships GIJC23
Investigations from Nigeria, Venezuela, South Africa, and North Macedonia Win Global Shining Light Awards at GIJC23
The GSLA honors watchdog journalism in developing or transitioning countries, carried out under threat or in perilous conditions — and the 2023 competition attracted applications from 84 countries.
GIJC23
Reporting of the Last Resort: Tips for When — and How — to Conduct Undercover Investigations
Certain stories require access or information that interviews, open source documents, or data analysis can’t provide.
GIJN 2023 Board Election Results: Four Incumbents Re-Elected, Three New Members
GIJN’s board is now made up of Anton Harber (South Africa), Oleg Khomenok (Ukraine), Syed Nazakat (India), Bruce Shapiro (US), Khadija Sharife (South Africa), Margo Smit (Netherlands), and Nina Selbo Torset (Norway).
Case Studies
Google News Initiative Grants in Africa and the Middle East Yield Mixed Results
A study found many Google News Initiative projects in Middle East and Africa struggle to become more than makeshift versions of the original idea.
Getting the Story Out
Investigative Journalism in Africa: A Book From the Frontlines
The award-winning Ghanaian journalist Manasseh Azure Awuni says there are a series of challenges that investigative reporters in Africa must confront during the course of their work. Read about the difficulty of getting accurate data, the challenges of impunity, funding issues, and press freedom challenges in this excerpt from his new book.
News & Analysis Reporting Tools & Tips
How to Reach Hard-to-Access Stories — and Audiences — with Audio
At the International Journalism Festival in Perugia, veteran journalists from Africa and the Middle East discussed the power and intimacy of audio and podcast reporting and how it can enable reporters to better access hard-to-cover stories.